Barely 24 hours after his formal declaration, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday presented the certificate of return to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the winner of the Adamawa state governorship election, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri and his running mate, Professor Kaleptapwa.

The certificates was presented to him by Dr. Baba Billa, INEC National Commissioner for North-East, at a ceremony took place at the Conference Centre, INEC headquarters, Maitama Abuja. Speaking after receiving his certificate Governor Fintiri described the exercise as his toughest election because of the external manipulation that was coming from Abuja.

Governor Fintiri commended the electoral commission for redeeming the image of the country’s democracy. He also blamed some political stakeholders for attempting to influence the elections for their gains due to their desperation.

In an interview with journalists after the event, Governor Fintiri vowed to push for the prosecution of all those involved in the illegal declaration including the Adamawa REC and other security officials in attendance. He said since the offence took place in Adamawa state state, he would personally ensure they are prosecuted.

He further enjoined the stakeholders to learn from Adamawa state electioneering process and continue to build democracy in the country. “It is unfortunate that we have to go through all this before we arrive at this moment today they should have been finished and done since 18 of March, but unfortunately due to some attitude of some individuals among us, because of some of desperation of some politicians it has to be dragged this long”, he said.

“To INEC, headed by wonderful and excellent personnel, they have redeemed the whole process, they have redeemed the image battered by Hudu, the so called REC in Adamawa, and today Nigerians have the cause to celebrate democracy and all of us have won.

“And going forward, we should learn from the lesson we have gone through in the last one month, so that we can together as stakeholders, we will continue to build on the process, and deepen the democracy”.

On Tuesday, Professor Mohammed Mele, the state returning officer for Adamawa governorship election declared Fintiri as the winner of the poll after the conclusion of the supplementary election in which he polled 430,861 to defeat his closest rival, Aisha Dashiru popularly known as Binani of the APC who clinched 398,788 votes.

The Adamawa Resident Electoral Commission had been involved in some drama leading to his declaration of Fintri’s closest rival, and candidate of the All Progressives Congres (APC) Aisha Dahiru, also known as Binani, as winner without the conclusion of collation of results. His declaration was nullified by the INEC headquarters for usurping the role of the state returning officer to make such declaration. Consequently, the commission suspended the REC and had promised to investigate and prosecute him for violating the electoral law.